Erling Haaland has urged supporters to accept that Manchester City are entering a different phase and that past success is no longer automatic. The striker spoke as City arrive at Sunday\u2019s Manchester derby against United having picked up just three points from three league games and sitting 16th in the table.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s pre-season promise has been tempered by mixed form that has continued this season, including back-to-back defeats against Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion. Haaland placed responsibility on both newcomers and established figures to lift standards quickly.<\/p>\n
“A lot of important people left so new people have to come in and make a difference and people that have been here for years like me have to take more responsibility,” Haaland told Sky Sports. “I have to guide the team, I have to help the new ones to come in as quick as possible, because it\u2019s not easy to come into a new country and perform straight away.<\/p>\n
“We need to help each other. We need to understand that the past is the past and we\u2019re not the same team anymore. We have to use it in a positive way. We have other qualities now and we have to adapt.<\/p>\n
“In the end, the most important thing is we have to win games.”<\/p>\n
Haaland was clear that the altered circumstances do not change the club\u2019s objectives. “What\u2019s sure is City has to win things,” he said. “We have to win games and we have to fight for titles. That\u2019s what we have to do.<\/p>\n
“We have to perform. Say what you want, but we have to win games in the end. That\u2019s what we get paid for. I try to do everything I can and I try to help the team as much as possible. No matter how the situation is, if you win every single game or lose every single game, you still have to try to be free in your mind. It\u2019s something I still have with me now.”<\/p>\n
With the derby imminent, Haaland framed adaptation and internal leadership as the immediate priorities if City are to arrest their slow start and restore their winning rhythm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Erling Haaland: City must adapt after departures as they sit 16th with three points before derby vs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,969],"tags":[272],"class_list":["post-2784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city","category-premier-league","tag-erling-haaland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}